CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE: Paul Alexander

Occupation: Entrepreneur, businessman and creator and co-founder of Sonic Live Radio for all Sonic Drive-Ins, nationwide

Family: Married with six children

Education: Environmental design degree from Texas A&M (1990), 27 hours master’s in business training from Angelo State University

Political experience: Former mayoral candidate (ran in 2009)

Civic involvement: San Angelo-West Rotary Club; Member of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT); San Angelo A&M Club; Red Cross volunteer (shelter trained); Active member of Community Hills Christian Church (deacon); Co-editor of the 2009-2010 Lamar Elementary School yearbook; Administrator of San Angelo’s largest Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SanAngeloTexas

Why are you running for San Angelo City Council and what perspective would you bring to the table?

All successful corporations, organizations and cities have certain characteristics in common. They all measure their progress. They all understand where their organization is and in what direction it needs to go. All these success stories go hand-in-hand with a strong sense of vision and all have supporting missions and measurable goals that everyone can understand. Within most of the organizations in our city, I recognize the “call for a single vision” — a vision that encompasses a symphony of visions for our community, that when put together will create a masterful composition. I am entering the political arena in San Angelo for the purpose of instilling these common success characteristics into our city’s culture, a process that will take years, but will greatly benefit our city for generations to come.

What are some of the issues you feel are most important facing the city, and your single member district?

There are two primary problems in San Angelo. One is water. However, at the root of nearly every economic problem in our city is the issue of pay. Whether it regards comparably lower pay for city departmental staff or the low average pay of the common citizen, low pay produces problems for San Angelo. Improving pay across the board simultaneously improves our tax-base, thus allowing us to more quickly improve our city’s infrastructure, such as parks. It also helps us recruit and retain workers in our city in many facets, ranging from police to providing jobs to the many hundreds of local college graduates that are more likely to migrate to other metropolitan areas for higher wages. The problem is obvious, but the solution is complex and multifaceted, and while it doesn’t affect the citizens in my district as much as others, the evidence of the problems do creep into Single Member District 1.

Long-term water supply is one of the biggest issues facing San Angelo in the near and far future. What kind of approach would you like to see the city take to obtain a source of water beyond Hickory Aquifer?

A: I have personally spent time with Will Wilde (EDITOR’S NOTE: the city’s water utilities director) regarding our water issues and I found him to be methodical and organized in thought. The city is in good hands with Wilde. As geological matters go, the process of locating a second underground water source takes lots of time and lots of research. At the current time, our city does not have a Plan B, and in my best judgment from a council perspective I think it is important to establish a Plan B to begin the serious process of looking beyond the Hickory Aquifer to understand what our next best option may be. I support limiting our debt service on the Hickory Aquifer to 20 years so that we can free up cash flow in time to fund the next water project that I project would need to be online by that time.

For the past five years, the City Council has slightly reduced local property taxes. Describe your views on property taxes as they relate to producing revenue to run local government.

Many have seen the billboard saying that San Angelo has the second highest tax rate in the state of Texas. While the statement is technically true, it is also misleading. The sign exposes that our base land valuation is artificially low, thus we have a higher tax rate to make up the difference. When we break down the amount of taxes we pay the figure is close to $1,100 per person per year, which is nowhere near the top. What is most significant about our tax rate is that it discourages outside businesses from locating in San Angelo. Current businesses pay taxes on land values that are generally artificially low, while new businesses pay taxes on the actual current costs when building new properties. For this reason, I support the continued incremental lowering of our tax rate over the next 10 years. A city’s vibrant economy is rewarded with greater tax revenues.

An effort is under way to improve the Concho River in downtown. What should that effort try to accomplish and how would you like the river development to unfold? I began studying the plans to the river improvement project in mid-July, upon its release. With the assistance of ASU students, I held a focus group of citizens that identified that the river and downtown are inseparable, that they go hand-in-hand. The fans on my FaceBook page, San Angelo Texas (www.facebook.com/SanAngeloTexas), also predominantly identified the Concho River adjacent to downtown as the impetus to potential major commercial development of the area. The citizens of San Angelo clearly have a coherent vision of developing this area of our city. To transform our vision into reality I strongly support contracting a master developer to take over development of the area as guided by the City Council and I support a new Downtown Coordination Commission comprised of members of several already established commissions that oversee the downtown area. This private/public partnership gives outside investors a single point of contact and our City Council a single commission to coordinate with and rewards the developer based on his/her level of success.

Has the council made any decisions in the last year with which you disagreed? What were they, and why do you think the council should have acted differently?

Last fall, the council became deadlocked in a 3-to-3 tie over the establishment of a policy regarding the sale of beer at the Texas State Bank Sports Complex. While a policy allowing the controlled sale of beer at the complex later passed (including the restriction of beer sales while youth events are in progress), it took Alvin New’s vote to break the tie. One councilman described the issue as 100 percent about making money, which greatly concerned me because I feel this is more importantly about control. The advantages of monitoring consumption and curtailing consumption by effectively increasing the amount of money each beer costs are also very valid reasons for imposing a policy for the controlled sale of beer at the sports complex. I felt that our final solution was a win-win for all parties.

Are the city’s animal ordinances restrictive enough? Why or why not?

Unnecessary or ineffective bureaucracy can damage our community and send it in the wrong direction. This applies to animal ordinances, sign ordinances, permits, as well as other restrictive regulations. In the case of animal ordinances, they were passed with good intentions. However, they are largely unenforceable; therefore they can penalize (tax) honest pet owners and create an underground pet trade for the vast majority that attempt to avoid fees, making unlawful citizens out of people who are normally lawful. San Angelo has to be pet friendly to its citizens and I even support pet friendly parks and facilities. I understand the concerns of each side of this problem, and I will creatively work to find a win-win solution. The undiscovered solution here will be something far different than a bureaucratic swipe at the problem.